Palestinian flag waving over Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank The Xavierite
The United States has long been involved in the occupation and colonization of Palestine, since the inception of the settler colony of Israel in 1948.
Despite standing in favor of Israel due to national interests, the U.S. has also played the role of mediator between the settler colony and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In the 1990s, the US negotiated a peace process to put an end to the ongoing violence between the two parties which resulted in the signing of the Oslo Accords.
In 1993, the United States proposed the Oslo Accords as a means to end the First Intifada. The First Intifada was the Palestinian uprising that began as a result of an Israeli vehicle running over four Palestinians in the Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza in 1987.
The Oslo Accords were meant to be a stepping stone in the right direction towards “peace” between the PLO and the colonizers; i.e. the Two-State Solution everyone loves to mention.
Provisions of the Oslo Accords included that settlement expansion in Gaza Strip and the West Bank be prohibited, governing power over the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, as well as both Israel and Palestine recognizing each other as states.
It has been over thirty years since the Oslo Accords were signed and Palestinians have not seen a single day of peace, they have not been granted their state, and Israeli settlements have instead multiplied.
Since 1993, Israeli settlements have expanded and increased by over 300%. Peace Now, an “Israeli” peace organization, noted that what was previously 128 settlements in the West Bank has increased to about 300, as of Sept. 2023.
What was supposed to be a “step in the right direction,” has failed and led to an escalation of violence and in fact not peace.
Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, another uprising occurred, that being the Second Intifada of the early 2000s, the Invasion of the West Bank in 2002, and the rise of armed settler attacks which have not ceased for a single moment.
Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to send $26 billion in weapons to Israel. While the bill also does oversee sending aid to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it’s very counteractive to send money to bomb the people you want to “help” with your aid.
What good is your aid if you’re just going to kill them anyway?
It should be noted that the weapons the U.S. sends to Israel are also going into the hands of settlers in the West Bank who will then terrorize Palestinians living peacefully in their land.
One would imagine that when settler attacks happen in the West Bank there would be someone to stop them, however, it comes by no surprise that Israeli armed forces are in fact protecting the settlers who attack and allowing them to act with impunity.
Al Jazeera states, “Israel’s National Security Minister Ben Gvir, a settler and Jewish supremacist, has played a significant role in encouraging attacks on Palestinians. Shortly after October 7, he distributed semi-automatic rifles and other weapons to settlers and far-right Israelis.”
Who is there to protect the Palestinians from these attacks if the Palestinian Authority in fact does not have any power or authority over the land?
Although the U.S., after immense pressure, has condemned state-sanctioned settler attacks, what have they done to stop them if they are directly facilitating them?
These proclamations of condemnation are not enough and action is needed. We can’t continue this destructive cycle without change, otherwise it’s going to continue and get even worse.
You can’t promise to push for peace, back out on your promise, and in the end support the aggressor who is actively working against peace.
Whether or not I agree with the Oslo Accords of 1993, I believe that promises should never be broken and left unfulfilled. If you’re going to push for peace and promise Palestinians their state then don’t back out on your word and do it.
It’s worth mentioning that the U.S. under the Trump Administration had challenged not only the Oslo Accords agreed under Clinton’s Administration but international law as a whole when the U.S. embassy was moved to Jerusalem rather than stay in Tel Aviv.
Most recently in the United Nations, the UN Security Council had voted on whether or not to grant Palestine full UN membership and the U.S. rather than vote in favor of it they vetoed it.
These events further display the U.S.’s blatant hypocrisy and disregard for keeping promises and pushing for “peace.”
If the United States really wanted to advocate for peace and allow Palestinians to have their own state as they said in 1993, they would not participate in counteractive measures against them to ensure they’re oppressed and occupied in every way possible.
Free Palestine.
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